Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership where a leader works with teams or followers beyond their

immediate self-interests to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through influence,
inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed members of a group; This change in self-interests
elevates the follower's levels of maturity and ideals, as well as their concerns for the achievement. [1][2][3] it is an
integral part of the Full Range Leadership Model.
Transformational leadership is when leader behaviors influence followers and inspire them to perform beyond their
perceived capabilities.
Transformational leadership inspires people to achieve unexpected or remarkable results. It gives workers
autonomy over specific jobs, as well as the authority to make decisions once they have been trained. This induces a
positive change in the followers attitudes and the organization as a whole.
Transformational leaders typically perform four distinct behaviors, also known as the four Is. These behaviors are
inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.
Transformational leadership serves to enhance the motivation, morale, and job performance of followers through a
variety of mechanisms; these include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to a project and to
the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers in order to inspire them and to raise their
interest in the project; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the
strengths and weaknesses of followers, which allows the leader to align followers with tasks that enhance their
performance. It is also important to understand the qualities a transformational leadership can bring to a work
organization.
Transformational leadership enhances commitment, involvement, loyalty, and performance of followers. Followers
exert extra effort to show support to the leader, emulate the leader to emotionally identify with him/her, maintain
obedience without losing any sense of self esteem.[4]
Transformational leaders are strong in the abilities to adapt to different situations, share a collective consciousness,
self-manage, and be inspirational while leading a group of employees.
Transformational leadership can be practiced but is arguably the most efficient when it is authentic to that individual.
These types of leaders focus on how decision making benefits their organization and the community rather than for
personal gains. A transformational leader by all accounts is a good leader. They show sound values, good
judgement, and great character.[5]
Inspirational motivation is when the leader inspires their followers to achieve. This leader sets high and reasonable
goals for their followers and their organization. They inspire commitment and they create a shared vision for their
organization. Leaders that utilize inspirational motivation motivate followers extrinsically and intrinsically, and they
are able to articulate their expectations clearly. Inspirational motivation is closely tied to productivity. Productivity
leads directly to having a source of worth, and could be considered both inspirational and visionary, leading to a
positive emotional impact on that leader's followers.[6]
Idealized influence is when the leader acts as a strong role model for their organization and leads by example.
These types of leaders consider the needs of their followers and prioritize their needs. They typically have loads of
commitment and are very ethical. Followers of these leaders typically try to emulate their leader as they tend to
identify with them easily. When subordinates try to emulate their leader, emotional attachments tend to form.
Although controversial, Adolf Hitler would be an example of a leader that had profound emotional impact on his
subordinates.[7]
Intellectual stimulation is when the leader encourages their followers to think for themselves. These leaders are
creative, innovative, and are very open to new ideas. They tend to be tolerant of their followers' mistakes, and even
encourage them as they believe they promote growth and improvement within the organization. These leaders
create learning opportunities for their followers and abandon obsolete practices.
Individualized consideration is when the leader establishes a strong relationship with their followers. These leaders
act as a caring supportive resource for their followers and their organization. They mentor their followers and
allocate their time to developing their followers potential. One of the ways in which leaders can develop their
followers is by delegating specific tasks that will foster an individual's development.[8]
Origins[edit]
The concept of transformational leadership was initially introduced by James V. Downton, the first to coin the term
"transformational leadership", a concept further developed by leadership expert and presidential biographer James
MacGregor Burns. According to Burns, transformational leadership can be seen when "leaders and followers make
each other advance to a higher level of morality and motivation."[9] Through the strength of their vision and
personality, transformational leaders are able to inspire followers to change expectations, perceptions, and
motivations to work towards common goals. Burns also described transformational leaders as those who can move
followers up on Maslow's hierarchy, but also move them to go beyond their own interests.[10] Unlike in the
transactional approach, it is not based on a "give and take" relationship, but on the leader's personality, traits and
ability to make a change through example, articulation of an energizing vision and challenging goals. Transforming
leaders are idealized in the sense that they are a moral exemplar of working towards the benefit of the team,
organization and/or community. Burns theorized that transforming and transactional leadership were mutually
exclusive styles. Later, researcher Bernard M. Bass expanded upon Burns' original ideas to develop what is today
referred to as Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory. According to Bass, transformational leadership can be
defined based on the impact that it has on followers. Transformational leaders, Bass suggested, garner trust,
respect, and admiration from their followers.
Bernard M. Bass (1985), extended the work of Burns (1978) by explaining the psychological mechanisms that
underlie transforming and transactional leadership. Bass introduced the term "transformational" in place of
"transforming." Bass added to the initial concepts of Burns (1978) to help explain how transformational leadership
could be measured, as well as how it impacts follower motivation and performance. The extent to which a leader is
transformational, is measured first, in terms of his influence on the followers. The followers of such a leader feel
trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for the leader and because of the qualities of the transformational leader are
willing to work harder than originally expected. These outcomes occur because the transformational leader offers
followers something more than just working for self-gain; they provide followers with an inspiring mission and vision
and give them an identity.[11] The leader transforms and motivates followers through their idealized influence,
intellectual stimulation and individual consideration. In addition, this leader encourages followers to come up with
new and unique ways to challenge the status quo and to alter the environment to support being successful. Finally,
in contrast to Burns, Bass suggested that leadership can simultaneously display both transformational and
transactional leadership.
In 1985, transformational leadership had become more defined and developed whereby leaders known to use this
style possessed the following traits: idealized influences, productive commitment, and inspirational motivation.
Transformational leadership made transactional leadership more effective.[1

Definitions[edit]
Martin Luther King was known for using persuasive appeals based on reason. [13]
 Providing individual coaching and mentoring for followers
 Appealing to the ideals of followers
 Allowing freedom of choice for followers
Transformational leaders are described to hold positive expectations for followers, believing that they can do their
best. As a result, they inspire, empower, and stimulate followers to exceed normal levels of performance.
Transformational leaders also focus on and care about followers and their personal needs and development.
[15]
Transformational leaders fit well in leading and working with complex work groups and organizations, where
beyond seeking an inspirational leader to help guide them through an uncertain environment, followers are also
challenged and feel empowered; this nurtures them into becoming loyal, high performers.
There are 4 components to transformational leadership, sometimes referred to as the 4 I's:

 Idealized Influence (II) – the leader serves as an ideal role model for followers; the leader "walks the talk," and
is admired for this. A transformational leader embodies the qualities that he/she wants in his/her team. In this
case, the followers see the leader as a model to emulate. For the followers, it is easy to believe and trust in a
transformational leader. This is also referred to as charisma and showing a charismatic personality influences
the followers to become more like their leader.[16]
 Inspirational Motivation (IM) – Transformational leaders have the ability to inspire and motivate followers
through having a vision and presenting that vision. Combined, these first two I's are what constitute the
transformational leader's productivity. A transformational leader manages to inspire the followers easily with
clarity. The transformational leader convinces the followers with simple and easy-to-understand words, as well
as with their own image. Throughout history, these are people who inspire their organization, their political party
or candidate, or even their entire country through their vision. [17]
 Individualized Consideration (IC) – Transformational leaders demonstrate genuine concern for the needs and
feelings of followers and help them self-actualize. This personal attention to each follower assists in developing
trust among the organization's members and their authority figure(s). For example, the transformational leader
can point out the problems of a member working in a group. From this perspective, the leader can work towards
training and developing a follower who is having difficulties in a job. This is an important element because
teams are able to rely on and work together, so decisions can be made more quickly, while the transformational
leader increases their buy-in.[18]
 Intellectual Stimulation (IS) – the leader challenges followers to be innovative and creative, they encourage
their followers to challenge the status quo. A common misunderstanding is that transformational leaders are
"soft," but the truth is that they constantly challenge followers to higher levels of performance.
[15]
Transformational leaders challenge their followers preconceptions and encourage creativity, whether that
creativity is innate or learned, transformational leaders their followers connect the dots. [19]
Transformational leadership is said to have occurred when engagement in a group results in leaders and followers
raising one another to increased levels of motivation and morality.[14] It is not enough to make the correct choice, but
to make the moral choice. In simple words, a transformational leader is not selfish and sees an opportunity of
growth in others. Transformational leadership enhances intellectual stimulation through employee training and
development.
Transformational leaders do one thing transactional leaders don't, which is going beyond self-actualization. The
importance of transcending self-interests is something lost sight of by those who see that the ultimate in maturity of
development is self-actualization. Bass. (1999).

Effectiveness as compared to other leadership styles[edit]

Studies have shown that transformational leadership styles are associated with positive outcomes in relation to
other leadership styles. It is suggested that transformational leadership augments transactional in predicating
effects on follower satisfaction and performance.[25] According to studies performed by Lowe, Kroeck, and
Sivasubramaniam, productivity (or Idealized Influence) was found to be a variable that was most strongly related to
leader effectiveness among MLQ scales.[26] Other studies show that transformational leadership is positively
associated with employee outcomes including commitment, role clarity, and well-being.[27] However, the
effectiveness of transformational leadership varies by the situational contexts. For example, it can be more effective
when applied to smaller, privately held firms than complex organizations based on its outreach effect with members
of the organization.[28] However, it can be concluded that transformational leadership has a positive effect on
organizational effectiveness. This is because transformational leaders can encourage and facilitate change in their
subordinates and encourage their development and creativity.[29]
Transformational leadership focuses on discrepancy creation. Transformational leaders motivate employees to go
above and beyond to surpass prior goal levels.[30]
What are the advantages of transformational leadership?
 Transformational leadership: Pros vs. cons
 supports open and honest communication.
 empowers people to reach new levels of personal development.
 fosters a sense of responsibility and loyalty in participants.
 allows for innovation.
 builds a culture of mutual trust.

Cons:

 isn’t likely to be effective if each participant isn’t willing to take personal

responsibility
 may not deliver instant, short-term results
 could set back high-stake projects that don’t have room for error or risk
Transactional leadership: Pros vs. cons

Pros:

provides a high level of structure

each person’s role comes with clear expectations

workers can spend more time completing tasks rather than getting bogged down by too much uncertainty

Cons:

may cause burnout if workers feel they aren’t allowed a sense of ownership in their role

could stifle long-term growth and innovation since the status quo is prioritized over new ideas

may create a culture of competition that undermines the organization’s goals if people work against rather than with
each other

Benefits of transformational leadership at work

Research highlights how transformational leadership helps employees not only keep up, but thrive in increasingly
diverse and fast-paced workplaces.

Some benefits of transformational leadership in the workplace include:

1. Psychological safety

A 2019 study that explored how transformational leadership supports knowledge sharing among employees
emphasized that psychological safety played an important role.

Sharing knowledge at work can feel threatening if it means telling others about a mistake you made in the past or that
you no longer have the know-how that keeps your job secure.

Since transformational leadership emphasizes teamwork and praises both risk-taking and learning from mistakes, it
creates a culture where employees feel safer sharing victories and mistakes with each other.

2. More creativity
A 2016 study found that three aspects of transformational leadership — inspirational motivation, individual
consideration, and idealized influence — supported creativity in the workplace.

Psychological safety may be one reason why. Employees are more likely to take risks or think differently in an
environment that encourages rather than punishes creativity.

3. Less interpersonal stress

Transformational leaders emphasize communication between employees, no matter their status or job title. This helps
create a sense of cooperation rather than competition.

A 2020 study found that transformational leadership and interpersonal communication in education helped reduce
workplace conflict and boost teachers’ effectiveness.

4. Higher achievement

Leaders with a transformational approach motivate and empower others to push past self-imposed limits.

For example, teachers used transformational leadership to build better relationships with students in a 2016 study. As a
result, the students became more engaged in their studies and were able to reach greater academic achievement.

5. Job satisfaction

A 2017 study measured how each aspect of transformational leadership increased employees’ effectiveness in their
roles. It highlighted a transformational leader’s ability to inspire others as a key factor in boosting an employee’s
satisfaction with their job, increasing their motivation to put in more effort.

And because transformational leadership could increase an employee’s intrinsic — or inner — motivation, it may reduce
stress and exhaustion that would otherwise lead to burnout.